Hello and welcome to
ToriJ's Video Game Reviews. Today we take a look at a game that
started both a popular long-running series, and shaped the RPG genre
for generations: Final Fantasy! I reviewed some of the other number
entries but never took a look at the original. So, I thought it was
time to change that. I don't think anyone here is
going to question the influence this game had over the years. Only
one question remains: does it hold up?
I like how
'orb' is in all caps. As if the narrator just shouted it out to end
his sentence.
The game
kicks off with an overview of the story with white text on a blue
background. Get used to seeing that combination a lot. Then we come
to the title screen which just has a continue and new game select
screen. An added feature is the response range which you can change
with the left and right directional buttons. You're going to want to
change that to eight. Trust me.
Avengers
assemble!
As soon as
you begin a new game you have four fighters to name and your choice
of class: Fighter, Thief, Black Belt, Red Mage, White Mage, and
Black Mage. Each class has their own advantages and disadvantages.
The fighter is great at dealing physical damage, but he can't use
magic. Black and White mages can only learn spell in their class
range, and while the Red Mage can fight and learn both spell types
he isn't as strong as any of the individual classes.
Don't
expect much story or characterization in this entry since it was only
1987. Instead, we have more focus on gameplay, battles, and grinding
to increase your strength. Names are limited to four characters so
you have to come up with some good ones that are only four letters
long. I think I spent more time at this screen than any other part
of the game.
The land is
pretty green for an earth that's rotted.
While other
games in the series would have you start at level seven or something,
you're set all the way back to level one with no equipment and very
little health. Luckily, the enemies are just as weak as you are, so
it all balances out. In order to get weapons, armor, and magic, you
need t o buy them all from the town that has been conveniently placed
right next to you. Isn't that convenient? When you visit the castle
you learn that the princess has been kidnapped, who would've
thought? But to Final Fantasy's credit, that is only the BEGINNING of
the game. Usually when you save the princess that's all there is,
but not here. That's only the prelude, and back then that never
happened.
You need to
be careful with your money and decide what you need and don't need.
Weapons and armor are reasonably priced, but you're not getting
magic any cheaper than 100 gold coins and that price will soar by
the next town. Supply and demand, what can I say? You can collect
more gold by killing enemies so grinding isn't just important for
increasing strength, but giving you enough money to actually buy the
things you need if you want to get anywhere. By the way, how strange
is it to have gold in a Final Fantasy game? If you started off
somewhere in the middle of the series like I did, you're probably
used to seeing gil as the currency. Here? Just gold. That is how old
this game is!
Imping ain't
easy!
Random
battles can take place anywhere outside of town and at any time. You
could walk for miles without any problem and then the next minute
they happen every couple of steps. This was before the time of ATB
(active time battle) so you just have to wait until everyone else is
finish with their attack before you can do anything. The A.I. isn't
programed to automatically go after the next enemy if they die
beforehand which means you need to be careful who you have attack
what. They'll just get an infective message on the screen otherwise
because no one is there. Although, you could get those anyway by
just attacking, and the misses, my god is there a lot of misses in
this game. You miss, the enemy miss, everyone miss! Why is it so hard
to hit something it's only a few feet in front of you!
Magic is
separated by levels and are limited to a certain number of uses
before they dry up. Your MP can't be replenished through tents,
either, you need to find an inn in a town to revive it. Magic is a
lot more reliable than physical attacks and I never had any issue
hitting my man. They do a lot more damage, too. Drinking is pretty
much what Item would become in later entries. If you want to use a
healing item you need to select that. Item just highlights equipment
you have on you. At the beginning you don't have any items or magic
spells to revive a dead party member, so you need to visit the
church in a town which charges you for it. Yeah, that's nice, a
church that makes you pay to bring your dead friend back to life.
Since when did Jesus start charging for miracles?
You have a little text box on your face, there.
The text
box will come up anywhere in a town or dungeon regardless of where
you're standing. Just push A and you'll read the words 'nothing
there.' No shit, nothing's there! I have eyes, assholes! Do we
really need something to tell us that? Some NPCs offer friendly advic
as is the norm for games like these while others may as well not
even be there to begin with. Some of them get in your way! I'm
trying to leave town or go through a short-cut and there's a guy just
standing there blocking my path. GET OUT OF THE WAY! I have a sword
and I will use it!
If you want
to save you either need to go to an inn, which cost money, or buy a
tent, which cost even more money than going to an inn! How would you
like to have to pay to save a game? You can't save on the world map,
and you can't save right before a boss. Inn or tent, that's it. Back
then we didn't have a memory card or storage space to save on the
console, the cartridges saved through a battery. If the battery dies
you can't save your game. On the plus side, batteries have been
known to last a long time. Unless the battery is already dead when
you get your hands on it...
Is it Pirate
Day already?
The
objective of the game is to defeat the four elemental fiends, go back
in time, and defeat Chaos ending the time paradox caused when the
fiends sent Garland back in time with the power of the Dark Crystal
to become Chaos in the first place. Garland created the fiends
through raw hatred. That's some hate. In order to get to Chaos you
have to fight all four fiends a second time. You not only have to
defy a god, but you have to defeat time itself to save the day.
That's pretty incredible.
While
Garland, like most of the characters, don't receive much in ways of
development due to hardware restraint, his story is still an
interesting one to follow. He was a good knight who was corrupted by
his own power and wanted it all. The kingdom, the castle, everything.
That lust for power ultimately led to his downfall and turned him
into a monster. We had other enemies in games like Mario and Zelda
who were already monsters and evil just for the sake of being evil,
but Chaos used to be a man. A human man like us before his fall.
That's enough to make him stand out among the other bosses we've
seen up to that point in time.
Please press
play before you continue.
In
conclusion, this game may show its age now, but it's responsible for
introducing a lot of young kids to a genre that was new and
exciting. Yeah, we had Dragon Quest/Warrior in the U.S. first, but
it can be argued that while Dragon Quest introduced us to the genre,
Final Fantasy perfected it, and became the standard for RPGs to
come. Several people missed Dragon Quest and came straight to Final
Fantasy. If it wasn't for this game there wouldn't be a Final
Fantasy VII, a Final Fantasy VI, a Final Fantasy X, or a Final
Fantasy XV. People who came together may not have even met; entire
communities non-existent. It's hard to think that one little game
can mean so much to so many different people, but we owe a lot to
this game, and RPGs will live on forever because of it.
Get it
I <3 Final Fantasy!!! Great review :D May I ask, how old are you?
ReplyDeleteThanks. I love it, too.
DeleteI'm 25.
Oh cool, so are you a longtime FF fan like me? :P
ReplyDeleteHow do you find time to write reviews at your age? I'm of similar age and have thought about starting to write my own reviews, but it's not so easy with a fulltime job and bills to pay :/
I've been a fan since 97. I was introduced to the series through FFVII.
DeleteI still live with my parents. Because of health issues it's very hard for me to find a job, so I kind of turned this into a full time job. It's the reason I have the ads on my blog.
Oh, and the reason your posts won't show up right away is because I have comments set to where they have to be approved by me. It's my way to weed out potential spam.
Love this review of Final Fantasy! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lauren. I'm glad you enjoyed it. :)
Delete